Homework 01 Repository (Stephen Chignell)

Overview

Repository Contents:

• This ReadMe file
  • Introduction about my background
  • Research interests
  • Other interests
• An R markdown file demonstrating some exploratory data analysis of the gapminder dataset

About Me

I’m a first year PhD student in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC. I grew up in Hawai’i but have lived in Colorado and Illinois for most of my adult life.

I have a background in Geography and Watershed Science. I also have an undergraduate degree in Music!

Fieldwork in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Research Interests

I’m mostly interested in trying to understand the relationships between people and nature. This includes applied questions about the sustainable management of water resources, as well as more philosophical questions about different worldviews and epistomologies, and how these shape the way we study the environment.

Maps

I enjoy working with geospatial data and satellite imagery, and have a soft spot for maps–particularly old ones like the one below…

Historic channels of the The Mississippi River

Networks

I’ve recently become very interested in network analysis, and am hoping to put some of my new R skills learned in this class to use making beautiful network visualizations.

Global air traffic network

Environmental History

I have also been involved in a project tracing the history of science and human impact in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. You can see some of the historic photos and other results of this work at this link.

An Antarctic scientist hard at work in 1986

Other things

Outside of research I also enjoy:

1. Hiking (and simply being outside)
2. Spending time with friends and family
3. Music
   • listening :musical_note:
   • composing :musical_score:
   • playing :guitar:

Looking forward to the semester!